Past, Present, Future
by HallowRain8587
Summary: Pansy receives a lesson in life as well as her first lesson in Tarot card reading.


**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the characters and locations you know, I have created the others.**

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**Past, Present and Future**

Pansy Parkinson sat in the Divination Classroom of the North Tower. She was daydreaming about the current situation at school. There had been no school for a whole year following the war. The date on her calendar said September 2, 1999. It was her eighth year and she like all of the surviving students from Hogwarts had been asked to return. All was the operative word because there was an enormous class of first years, relatively speaking. The many of the muggle born students that had not even begun school during the past two years due to the rise in power of Voldemort. Some were half-blood and a few were pureblood whose families considered blood traitors. They all had been home-schooled. The new first years had students from eleven through fourteen. These students along with older students hat had been home-schooled were being placed by ability into the appropriate year, not by age. All of the new students were temporarily were sharing a mixed dorm with the eighth years. This was supposed to help them acclimate to their new surroundings. It would be interesting to see how it all panned out. The sorting ceremony was also going to be done at the beginning of the second year when they would be separated into houses. Pansy was not certain how it would all work out in the end. It had been interesting in the new common room, or should she say common rooms.

Pansy's attention was drawn to the instructor, a new Professor this year. Professor Trelawney had been admitted to the Janus Thickey Ward of St. Mungos during the war and was still there. Pansy had read in the Daily Prophet that the pressure of the tragic prophecy about Harry Potter had been too much and she had snapped. Professor Casey, no relation as far as he knew to the American seer, was young and fresh from Uni after completing school in Australia. Along with the texts he had included a deck of tarot cards on the books list for those taking seventh/eighth year Divination. Some of the other students had already opened their decks, but Pansy had not.

"If you have not already opened your deck of tarot cards," Professor Casey instructed, "please open your deck now. Open to page 7 in 'You and Your Tarot' and follow along in the first chapter, 'Getting to Know Your Deck and Allowing It to Know You'."

He watched as the class took out their cards. He was surprised to see some of the students who were in the class. Since he was new to the school, he had allowed students that had not been eligible for their N.E.W.T.s to take it as an elective. Many of these students were scarred on the outside, like the Brown girl, most were scarred on the inside. War did that and that is why he was opening the class. His other subject would be an extracurricular class in Yoga. In his opinion meditation and divination went hand in hand. The biggest surprise was Miss Parkinson's partner at the first table. He had heard how Miss Granger had unceremoniously left in third year proclaiming the class a 'bunch of bunk' or something like that. When she approached him about the Yoga class, he had asked her to consider this one as well. The other surprising fact was that Miss Parkinson and Miss Granger walked in together and sat down together, continuing their conversation until he had called the class to order.

"Now that you have your decks open, I want you to treat your deck like you would any other item you cherish. Have you all brought your silks?" He looked around the room. "Good. I see that some of you are familiar with their purpose. What is that, Miss Parkinson?"

Pansy whispered, "To wrap your deck in and to use as a cloth under your layout."

He stepped closer and said, "You are correct Miss Parkinson." Then he repeated her answer loud enough for the class to hear. "Now we are going to shuffle our cards. The first time you shuffle, you will shuffle more times in order to get a complete mix, or randomization, of the order. After this you will shuffle three times. When you are reading someone else's cards you will have them shuffle a minimum of three times after your shuffle, but as many times as they feel necessary. This is the only time someone else should touch your deck. After the reading you will again shuffle your cards before putting them back in the box. Wrap the deck in your silk."

"How do we shuffle, Miss Brown?"

Lavender looked up from her well-worn, much-loved deck and said, "Hold them loosely in your non-dominant hand and with the dominant hand extract cards and then return them to the deck in a new place. Never riffle the cards."

"You are correct five points each to Slytherin and Gryffindor for correct answers. You will each also receive another five points for your house for participation in class." He went on to explain, "I will award five points for each correct answer and five points for participation. If you answer correctly that will be ten for your house; if you answer incorrectly, your house will still receive the participation points."

He paced the aisles, stopping here and there to help one or another student shuffle their decks. "Place your silks on the table where you will be putting your layout and lay the deck in the center." He nodded and watched. He awarded points here and there as questions were asked by him and answered by the students. He gave more background on the cards then said, "We will be doing the most basic of readings- the past, present and future. Remember that reversed cards have separate meanings from upright. When you are reading for someone else, have them cut the cards into three piles. Then have them restack them. If you are reading for yourself, you will be cutting and restacking."

He waited for the students to complete the task. "Take the first three cards and lay them out in front of you in order."

Pansy followed the instructions and glanced over see that Hermione deck was different from hers. "Where did you get that deck?" she asked. "It is so cool."

"My mother bought it when she was on vacation in America. It is called the 'Tarot of the Cat People' and each card has a cat in it. She was a real **hippy** before she met my father in dental school," Hermione answered. "She never used it. I found it in a box with tie-dyed t-shirts and bell bottomed pants."

Pansy laid out her three cards. The first representing the past was The Hierophant, representing the Wise Old Man. It was right side up and a symbol of guidance and tradition. The second card was reversed. It was Temperance. She looked up the meaning for the reversed card and saw that it represented imbalance, excess, lack of long-term vision. She snorted. The third card representing the future was Judgement, the card representing rebirth and judgement. She held her head. Even without a guide she felt that she knew what the reading meant.

Looking back on her life of privilege, she remembered the lessons that she had been taught her whole life. The traditions of the pureblood society were as much of her being as water and air. She looked at her table partner and remembered how she had always looked down on Hermione because she was muggle-born. Hermione did not dress in the latest styles and her hair was a riot of untamed curls even now. The etiquette lessons, the elocution lessons and the ballroom lessons of her childhood were drilled into her along with the history of the witches and wizards of England. She had known all the names in Wizards' Peerage before she was five. She knew who had fallen from grace and become blood traitors or married beneath themselves. Even among the purebloods there was a pecking order. You only married down for money, otherwise you married peers or up giving your money for a title. She knew her genealogy practically back to the beginning of time. She had her sights set on Draco Malfoy from the first time she saw him. He was a perfect specimen who danced beautifully, spoke correctly and had impeccable manners. That was in their circles. She was aware of his snobbery and cruel wit once they were away from the watch of the parents. Many of the soirees were held at Malfoy Manor because they had the money and space but also because Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were the epitome of what the rest of the purebloods aimed for. She was angered when someone at one of the many balls had compared Mr. Malfoy to one of his **peacocks**. This was not the way to talk about royalty. You paid them homage and agreed with their positions. You did not make snide remarks at their expense. The past had indeed been steeped in tradition.

Turning to the card representing the present, she was not surprised to see what clues it gave to the here and now. The excess of the past was still present in many ways. The Ministry had been quick to imprison those who fought on the side of the dark in the war, but they also had been more than willing to only fine those whose allegiance could not be proved. Many of the wizards were gone and most of the witches were merely fined and given house arrest. Those who were still at school were allowed to keep the contents of their vaults; consequently most of the pureblood students still were wealthy. After Harry Potter had cleared Draco before the Wizengamot, the esteemed body had decided that all children of the dark side had little choice but to follow their fathers and fined them and sent them back to school.

Pansy's life was spiraling downward when she had met Hermione last winter in Diagon Alley. Hermione was just sitting in front of Fortescue's and crying. Pansy came up and sat with her. Neither said anything that day, but when Hermione got up to go she squeezed Pansy's hand and left a piece of paper in it with an address on it. Later her curiosity got the best of her and Pansy went to the address in Hammersmith. It was a small flat and Hermione opened the door to her knock. Hermione stood back and motioned for Pansy to enter. The room was neat and clean, but sparsely furnished. Hermione had asked her to take a seat and went to the kitchen area of the room for the pot of tea she had been making. After adding another cup to the tray she joined Pansy.

"Why did you give me your address?" Pansy wondered out loud.

"You were sad and sat with me while I was trying to pull myself together." Hermione replied. "Life is too short to keep hating. I figured if you came we would talk; if you didn't come then I had done my part to make amends."

"Why do you live here?"

"My parents moved to Australia just before our seventh year and Death Eaters destroyed the house here," Hermione answered simply and without judgement. "I lived in a tent with Harry and Ron while we were on our mission, but I had no place to come home to. This was a modest flat that I could purchase without raising eyebrows. Can you imagine how an agent would have reacted if an eighteen year-old were to walk in and plunk down half-a-million pounds for a four bedroom walk up?"

When Pansy chuckled, "That's what I would have done."

"Well, I don't look like I belong in the Peerage or like a rock star, so it would have been questioned. I bought this with the idea that I only need it until I finish school and possibly need a place to spend holidays if I go to Uni. I can sell it down the road for more than I paid since I have already been working on upgrades," Hermione told her.

Hermione knew what she wanted, but Pansy was not certain any more. She didn't think that she wanted to just marry well and be a dutiful pureblood wife. She was restless and wanted more.

The future did look promising if the cards were correct. The judgement was unavoidable. Her father was in Azkaban with other Death Eaters. He would be there for fifteen years, followed by five more years of house arrest without use of magic. His wand would be returned only upon the completion of the sentence. In addition he would not be allowed to perform offensive spells for the rest of his life. This was a sentence similar to that give other Death Eaters with the years of incarceration being the only variable.

The judgement on Pansy was guilt by association. She would have to work hard to prove that she was more than the daughter of a Death Eater that no longer aped the tenets that she had been so carefully taught. Pansy would have to find something to do in the world that would show that she was different from the Pansy Parkinson that had grown up a child of privilege.

At the end of the class, Pansy picked up the cards shuffled and them. She put them away and carefully wrapped the deck in the purple silk she had chosen. Glancing across the table she watched Hermione fold her deck into a green silk. They smiled and walked back to the larger of the two common rooms for the multiyear group.

The larger common room was set up for conversation and games. There were multiple seating areas with sofas, love seats, arm chairs and bean bags arranged with tables interspersed for drinks and lamps. The smaller common room was like an annex of the library. The inner walls were covered with bookshelves and the outer walls were banks of windows that overlooked the Quidditch pitch. The fireplace across from where the girls sat was cold. No fire was needed on a hot September afternoon. Hermione was sitting cross-legged on the floor on a small rug and Pansy was across from her in a royal blue arm chair. The door opened and a small first year was being led in by a larger first year. The first was an eleven year-old girl and the second was a fourteen year-old boy. Both gave a sigh of relief when they saw that the only occupants of the room were Pansy and Hermione.

"Anna said that some of the older kids were giving her a hard time because her father is in Azkaban," David stated. "I said we could come back here because this dorm is a 'safe zone' and nobody will bother her here." David was a muggle-born who had never been to school after his first show of magic. His mother had home-schooled him in muggle topics, but he had no formal training in the control and use of his magic. He was compassionate and protective of many of the younger students.

"Did you know that my father is in Azkaban?" Pansy asked. "He was a bad wizard and will be there fifteen years. Have you told your brother?"

"No, he will not want to be bothered with me," Anna answered.

"You might be surprised," Hermione said and watched as Pansy drew the small girl into her arms and held her close.

Pansy sat there hugging the young girl and watching the boy as he nervously shuffled his feet trying to decide what to do.

Hermione asked David if he would walk with her and leave Anna to Pansy's care. After they left Pansy and Anna talked about how hard it was and what they needed to do. "You need to be kind to everyone like David and Hermione are. You need to ignore the taunts and bite your tongue rather than answer back. Later you can come to me or someone else you trust and talk about your anger and fears. Don't keep it in. It will destroy your. There are many that are just afraid as you are. They strike out because they don't know what else to do. You also need to tell your brother. He may only be a half-brother, but he will want to help you also. Big brothers jobs are to take care of their little sisters. I didn't know you existed and he didn't either, but he wants to get to know you. He cannot do his job of taking care of you if you don't tell him."

Anna nodded into Pansy's chest. "I'll tell him when he comes back after class."

Pansy sat there comforting the small child and thought that maybe the putting the eighth years in with these young vulnerable students to provide comfort and mentoring may have been one of the best things those in charge of the school had done. Maybe this was the direction she wanted to take her life in the future. Hermione had been telling her about her counselling sessions that had been helping her to move on. This was an option she would have never considered before, but first she needed to ask Hermione about getting counselling.

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**Hogwarts School Major &amp; Minor Arcana Assignment #6**

**Prompts** (pick 1 or more): **peacock**, avalanche, straight-jacket, feathers, **hippies**.

**Word Count**: 300 minimum, 3000 maximum My word count: 2911.

The cards: Upright and **Reversed** Meanings and _Archetypes_ of the Tarots:

The Hierophant \- Guidance and tradition. **Restriction, challenging the status quo.** _The Wise Old Man. _

Temperance \- Balance and moderation. **Imbalance, excess, lack of long-term vision****.** _The Union of Opposites._

Judgement \- Rebirth and judgement. **Self-doubt, refusal of self-examination.** _Evaluation and reward._


End file.
